


Undercover In More Ways Than One

by bluepulsebluepulse



Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Bart Allen - Freeform, Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes - Freeform, Bluepulse, Jaime Reyes - Freeform, M/M, Speedbuggy, i love them, so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-07 18:56:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20314393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluepulsebluepulse/pseuds/bluepulsebluepulse
Summary: Bart, Jaime, Tim, Cassie and Bruce must go undercover to discover what Lex Luthor's latest plans are.





	1. Blast For The Past

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy! I made an extra effort to get creative with story telling! So please feel free to let me know if I succeeded in the comments!

“This is Kat Grant reporting live from the latest United Nations meeting where we are hoping to get some inside information on the Markovian Metahumans Peace treaty that will allow the Prince of Markovia to return to his birth country.”

Brion crossed his fingers and Halo squeezed his shoulders supportively.

“Ooh, here comes Mr. Luthor now, I’ll see if I can get a word.”

The team watched on as Kat pushed her way through the onslaught of reporters surrounding Lex.

“Mr. Luthor! Can you comment on the status of the treaty!”

“As a matter of fact, after lengthy discussions the United Nations committee has decided that we do not believe the peace treaty should be enacted at this time.”

Brion’s face screwed up immediately with rage which only deepened when Lex gave a smirk at the camera knowing full well the former Prince of Markovia would be watching the news program. Brion broke free of Halo’s hold and stormed off leaving a stunned Halo to follow after him shortly after. The team all hung their heads with pity for Brion.

The program was suddenly interrupted with an incoming transmission from Batman.

“Outsiders, you have been assigned a recon mission. Lex Luthor is expecting a package delivery at an abandoned warehouse tonight. Sending coordinates now. Batman out.” he informed in his gruff voice.

“Aww… Jaime and I had plans tonight!” Bart whinged.

“It’s okay ese, we’ll just do them tomorrow.” Jaime explained.

“Okay Outsiders, this time when we say recon, we mean stealth mode. Do not. Get caught.” Artemis sterned.

“Got it!” Cassie reassured.

“We got you covered!” Beast Boy concurred.

“Alright, dismissed.” Nightwing turned to engage in a private conversation with Artemis.

The group all went their separate ways and prepared for the recon mission later that evening. They all met up before deploying on the mission together taking the bioship. Once all members were staked out all over the abandoned warehouse, they were given their instructions.

“Lex will be here in an hour to receive his package. Make sure you get pictures.” M’Gann informed.

_ “Don’t worry, I’ll remain focus-ed.” _ Bart leered.

The group all moaned over the mind link.

_ “Bart. Please. No more puns!”  _ Cassie begged.

_ “Okay fine!” _ Bart sighed.

The group ironically lost focus and got lost in a telepathic conversation about Artemis and her faking her death all those years ago. They all snapped to attention when a black limousine sped into the warehouse and skidded to a grinding halt.

Mercy stood out of the driver’s side and opened the back door revealing an as always perfectly groomed Lex Luthor. He walked and stood in front of the car whilst Mercy stood beside him.

“Punctual I see.” Cassie remarked.

“However it would appear his partner is not.” M’Gann observed.

Just then they all heard a familiar sound. It was so faint they almost missed it.

A zip line shot across the ceiling and Will slid down in his old Red Arrow costume. Everybody instantly found Will’s whereabouts on the zip line as they were able to follow the moving gleam of reflection on a silver briefcase he was holding in his right hand.

“Will!” M’Gann gasped.

The mind link was filled with immediate shocked reactions.

“Everybody be quiet!” Tim ordered.

Will gracefully landed on the ground and began walking over to Lex and Mercy.

“Should we do something?” Tim asked.

“No!” M’Gann firmly ordered, “Everybody stay put no matter what happens!”

Everybody watched waiting for Will to attack Lex, but he didn’t. He handed over the briefcase.

_ “Traitor!” _ Static hissed.

And just like that, Lex reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Will before firing almost immediately. Will collapsed forcefully to the ground.

Everybody gasped over the mind link.

“Mercy, time to leave.” Lex said calmly before quickly returning to the back seat of the car before Mercy sped the vehicle out of the warehouse.

_ “Everyone don’t worry!” _ M’Gann assured.

_ “How can we not worry, we just let Lex shoot Will!” _ Garfield screamed.

_ “It’s ok, I used my telekinesis to stop the bullet just a fraction under his skin. I only let it go deep enough to draw blood.” _ the martian explained.

_ “Wait! What is going on?” _ Bart pleaded, hoping for a full explanation, which even Tim was grateful because even he as the team’s detective had no clue what was going on.

_ “I sensed Will was under mind control again. I stopped the bullet, then made him fall to the ground to make it convincing.” _

_ “Oh my god! Is he okay?” _ Cassie bellowed.

“Let’s find out.”

The team all came out of their hiding places and slowly approached Will unsure of whether he still had more programming to complete or not.

“Wait!” M’Gann cautioned, “Let me scan his mind to see if there is any residual programming.”

After a moment of her eyes glowing green, her shoulders relaxed, “All clear.”

“Will?” M’Gann asked.

“Argh! What happened to me?” Will moaned in pain.

“I think Lex somehow managed to give you more programming? Or maybe you were never done to begin with. I’m not sure. But you’re safe now.” M’Gann explained.

“Safe? Why I am bleeding? Where even am I?” he started to panic.

“I had to let the bullet pierce your skin just a little-”

“I got shot!?!?” Will spat incredulously, “By who?”

“Lex Luthor. You showed up out of nowhere and gave him a silver briefcase.” M’Gann said as she showed him the mental images in her mind.

“I have no memory of this?” he admitted.

“So you don’t know what was in that briefcase?” Cassie asked.

“No! I don’t even know how I got reprogrammed! Or when!” Will was almost in tears.

“I might be able to help figure that out.” M’Gann soothed.

“Well Lex clearly has no more plans for you.” Tim stated.

“We should get back to base.” Garfield noted.

The team helped a shocked Will to the bioship before taking him to the medical bay where M’Gann requested some alone time so she could concentrate on completing a full mind sweep. 

Fortunately, M’Gann was able to discover that Will had only been under Lex Luthor’s mind control for less than 24 hours. She was unable to see what he did in that time though.

“Did you see what I did during that time?” Will asked, almost a beg.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t see any of it.” M’Gann admitted looking away with guilt.

“I’m so sorry! I had no idea! I-” Will tried to apologise before being interrupted.

“Daddy!” Lian called as she entered the room.

M’Gann stepped out of the room to give Will some alone time with his daughter.

“I am not looking forward to reporting this to Batman.” Tim confessed to her.

“I’ll do it. It’s probably best it come from one of the original members of the team.” M’Gann advised.

“Thanks.” Tim said before walking off before she could change her mind.

M’Gann frowned before walking off in the opposite direction.


	2. Unforeseen Delights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just writing this makes me want to work for DC because Bart and Jaime mean so much to me!

“This is bold, even for us.” Tim said hoping his opinion wouldn’t come off as disrespectful.

“We don’t have a choice. We don’t know what Will did during his reprogramming and we don’t know what was in that briefcase either. It could be League intel.” Batman stated in his monotone voice disallowing Tim to know whether he had over stepped or not.

“Ok so let me get this straight. You have gotten tickets for Cassie, Bart, Jaime and I to go undercover at a gala at Lex’s house.”

“Correct. I am sending you four undercover. Lex knows Static’s secret identity, Garfield is Green and you four the only ones whose secret identities have surprisingly remained intact. Tara was able to confirm that for us after her eventual double cross on the Light.”

Memories of Tara’s initial betrayal on their team flooded over their minds painting a frown across each of their faces.

“I will also be attending as Bruce Wayne. I will keep Lex occupied while you four pair up and search each wing of the mansion.”

“How big is this mansion… exactly?” Bart asked.

“The house itself is 10,000 square feet.” Batman informed.

“I mean, I can cover that much ground in no time, it’s just going to be hard to find it when we don’t know where to look. Or where he hides things?” Bart added after a whistle at hearing how large the mansion was.

“Khaji Da can help me scan for it.” Jaime informed.

“Naturally, Tim and Cassie will operate together and you Bart will too.” Batman said to Jaime.

“Ok. Is there anything else we should know?” Jaime asked.

“There is a strict dress code.” Batman added.

Before Bart knew it, all eyes were on him.

“What? Barry already bought me a suit for a wedding we had to attend.” Bart stated with a hint of offense in his voice that they all thought he owned no fancy clothing.

“Good. I’ll see you tonight. Don’t be late.” Batman stated before walking off.

“What are you going to wear?” Bart asked Cassie.

“I guess you’ll have to wait and see!” she smirked before linking her arm with Tim’s and walking off with him.

Bart decided to make a mockery of her even though she was gone and linked his arm with Jaime’s and walked off with him. They both chuckled until their cheeks went red with embarrassment once Garfield walked past them.

“Anyway, I’ll see you later tonight. I’m going home to get ready!” Bart said excitedly.

“Alright ese, see you later!” Jaime said before Bart disappearing in a gust of wind.

Bruce was the first to arrive and made a conscious effort not to pay attention to Tim and Jaime who arrived shortly after.

“I wonder when Cassie and Bart are going to get here?” Jaime asked.

“I’m sure it will be soon.” Tim remarked as he scanned vigilantly around the room.

“This place sure is big isn’t it!” Jaime continued to make small talk, not that Tim seemed to mind.

“Yeh. There are 4 main entrances which makes it hard to canvas.” Tim observed, however not observing the frown on Jaime’s face as he managed to drive the conversation back to business.

Jaime gave up on small talk and decided to admire the fancy room. It was massive. It was bigger than his whole house. It had a fancy chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the centre of the room and a grand staircase protruding from the second level. He couldn’t believe Lex somehow needed a second story when the first floor was big enough to be a small state. 

It was when he was observing the staircase he noticed someone. Tim felt a tap on his shoulder. Tim turned to look at Jaime to see him nodding his head in the direction of the stair well. Tim turned and froze. He took a deep breath in as he took in Cassie and the blue dress she was wearing. It was clearly a designer dress, and it looked fantastic on her.

“What do you think?” she almost purred when she reached Tim and Jaime.

“It’s… stunning.” Tim almost seemed lost for words.

“Very pretty.” Jaime smiled.

Cassie chuckled at Tim’s continuous malfunction while he tried to process everything about her. Her hair, her dress, her make up. She truly did look gorgeous.

“Where’s Bart?” Jaime asked Cassie.

“He came with me. He said he’d be down in a minute.” she smiled, “You two are both looking very dapper this evening.” she complimented.

Tim and Jaime both thanked her. Cassie grinned knowingly all of a sudden, “Tim, as a gentleman I believe you have an obligation to ask me to dance.”

“I don’t think-” Tim started.

“We have been ordered to blend in for the first hour to avoid security since Lex ordered more of it whilst all the guests are still arriving to avoid unwelcome intruders.” Cassie grinned.

Tim sighed and took her hand before leading her to the dance floor. He was bothered by having to waste an hour of his time but didn’t mind too much as he enjoyed spending time with his girlfriend. Jaime turned his back to the stairs and watched as the two disappeared into the many people on the dance floor. Jaime got lost in the sounds of wine glasses clinking and idle chatter until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Dios mio! Bart?” Jaime exclaimed after his eyes had expanded as large as they possibly could.

“How do I look?” Bart grinned whilst raising an eyebrow.

“You uhh… look… I… wow…” Jaime stuttered trying to resist the urge to grab on to something sturdy to compensate for his mind spinning. He truly felt dizzy trying to process his thoughts.

“Have you forgotten how to speak English?” Bart leered cheekily, “You can speak Spanish if you remember how?” Bart grinned revealing a dimple in his milky skinned cheek.

“Wow te ves tan ... guapo.” Jamie managed to say after an immense amount of computing.

“Gracias!” Bart said his eyes burning a brighter green than usual.

“Did you just understand-” Jaime began in horror.

“Si. I speed read some Spanish textbooks.” Bart grinned widely.

Jaime’s mouth parted in shock and he took a moment of silence to grieve the fact that he could no longer speak Spanish knowing Bart couldn’t understand him. 

“I still… can’t believe it. You look so…” Jaime gulped, “... handsome.”

“Yeh it was mostly Iris. She did most of this. She tied my tie, she straightened my jacket and she even combed my hair over with the wax.” Bart pouted pointing up at his neat controlled head of hair.

Jaime laughed. And from his gut. He hadn’t laughed like that in a while. The pure look of heartbreak on Bart’s face from having well maintained hair was adorable.

“It suits you very much.” Jaime said staring in awe.

Bart could tell he genuinely meant it which caused a smile to light his face back up again.

“Can I just say Jaime, you’re looking muy caliente!” Bart winked.

Jaime choked. He didn’t know how to respond. But if his blushing cheeks were of any indication, he was clearly flattered. And it was true, Bart was having a hard time not drooling over his best friend who was dressed in an almost identical sleek black suit, wearing a blue tie that didn’t take away from his gorgeous, warm brown eyes and also his black well maintained hair.

“Want to dance amigo?” Bart asked confidently pronouncing the last word in a way only he could.

Jaime clearly didn’t want to say yes, but he just couldn’t say no to Bart. And there were so many people everywhere the chances of them being noticed, or even seen by Tim or Cassie were so low. Not to mention, Bart was looking more distinguished than the majority of men in the room so he imagined some people would deem him lucky to be seen with someone so attractive. Hence why Jaime was still in shock, Bart just looked so attractive, in a way he had never seen before or ever expected.

“Okay.” he groaned.

“Crash!” Bart exclaimed as he led Jaime out onto the dance floor subtly walking in time to the beats of the live music.

Jaime had for some reason imagined them dancing individually, freestyling it. But when they finally found an empty spot deep in the crowd, Bart wasted no time putting one arm around Jaime’s waste and slid his free hand effortlessly into Jaime’s. Jaime almost jumped at the sudden contact in both regions. Bart and him felt so close, so intimate. He was sure his cheeks were redder than the woman’s dress beside him. Jaime hesitantly reciprocated and held back the astonished noise that wanted to come out at feeling the smooth silk as he ran his hand around Bart’s waste and the warmth of Bart’s hand as he focused on Bart.

“Jaime, I know I said this already, but you truly look so crash!” Bart said staring deeply into his eyes.

Jaime was resisting the urge to look away to avoid the dangerous desires brewing in his mind.

“Thanks.” he laughed lightly relaxing his eyes in a way that allowed Bart to stare deeper into them.

The world around them was now irrelevant, their bodies went into autopilot as they continued absentmindedly swaying to the music whilst they remained locked in an intense gaze with one another's eyes. Jaime was gazing so intensely he hadn’t even noticed that Khaji Da had been chirping at him trying to get his attention.


	3. A Picture Conceals A Thousand Words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT - sorry had to fix a spelling mistake

Tim and Cassie remained pressed tightly to the wall slightly askew from the entrance to an office.

“Yes. I have the briefcase. We will proceed with my plan. I’ll contact you after my meeting at LexCorp tomorrow. Goodbye.” Lex said as he placed the smartphone in his pocket before addressing his assistant, “Mercy, be a dear and get me a drink would you?”

Tim and Cassie took the opportunity to sneak away from their positions where they had been eavesdropping whilst Mercy walked across the room.

“He definitely has the briefcase on premises.” Cassie said to Bruce when she reached the bar.

“Okay, disperse and find it.” Bruce said before leaving the bar with a glass in each hand.

Cassie passed on the instructions to Tim, Bart and Jaime.

“Jaime are you okay?” Cassie asked just quickly before the four of them left to go hunting.

“Yeh fine!” Jaime appeared confused.

“You seem… distracted.” Cassie tilted her head trying to place her finger on what was off.

“Nope. Everything is super duper…” Jaime looked at Bart before immediately looking back at Cassie because looking at Bart would have made it obvious, that’s if Tim the detective hadn’t already figured it out from that small nervous glance.

They all left the dance floor to go search the private wings of the house. Tim and Jaime disabled security cameras with their respective technologies so that they and their partners could search un-watched.

“Khaji Da found anything yet?” Bart asked as he used his super speed to search in all the practical places he could think of in the room.

“Actually yes. There’s safe behind that painting.” Jaime pointed.

“Seriously! That is so cliche!” Bart shunned. He carefully took the painting off the wall.

“Blue can you get this open?” Bart said as he stepped aside to let Jaime temporarily armor up to pick the lock.

Upon hearing the click, Bart eagerly opened the safe door and pulled out the silver briefcase.

“Score!” he exclaimed quietly with a grin.

Bart ran over to a table nearby and flicked the clasps open and carelessly through the lid up.

“Dude! There could have been a bomb in that or something! You should be more careful!” Jaime scolded.

“Uhh! Sorry! Being impulsive is my thing?” Bart semi-defended. Jaime face-palmed.

“What’s in it ese?”

Bart lifted up a stack of papers. He didn’t need to look any further, he knew what they were. His eyes went wide with shock.

“Well! What is it?” Jaime asked dying to know.

Suddenly, Jaime pivoted on one foot to look towards the door.

“Khaji Da says there’s security approaching from a few corridors away!” Jaime whispered.

Bart used his super speed to close the briefcase, place it back in the safe and close the safe before returning the painting to it’s hook on the wall. He quickly picked up Jaime still using his super speed and ran him out of the room. They were running down the corridor when Bart heard another security guard talking on a walkie talkie coming their way. He had gotten them far enough away from the room to avoid suspicion and he couldn’t vibrate Jaime through the walls to escape. They were going to get caught so he thought of a plan.

He placed Jaime down again, used his super speed to rip open Jaime’s jacket and push him into the corridor wall before abruptly kissing him. When Jaime comprehended what was suddenly happening his eyes opened so wide, he thought they must have been bigger than the first floor. Bart was pulling out all the stops, kissing him deeply and using tongue as well. He started to melt into it as Bart pulled away at the sound of yelling. Jaime was so dazed by the kiss he couldn’t process the situation. Who was yelling, what were they saying?

“What are you two doing! You can’t be down here!” an angry security guard yelled.

“Sorry we just wanted some privacy.” Bart said as he made an act of pulling up and closing Jaime’s jacket for him.

The security guard frowned. From what he had seen, it looked like Jaime had begun to undress and he had seen them passionately kissing moments earlier.

“Okay. You’re still not allowed down here. Return the venue immediately or you will be escorted off the premises.” he said as toughly as he could manage.

“Sure! And we’re so sorry!” Bart apologized to the guard, “We just got carried away…” Bart laughed nervously.

Bart grabbed Jaime by the hand and dragged him away as quickly as he could.

Bart was waiting for Jaime to comment on how clever his plan to disguise them as horny teenagers had been or to tell him how good his acting skills were because if he didn’t say so himself, he fooled that security guard good. Although, Jaime was well aware of Bart’s acting abilities. But Jaime remained silent. Jaime had now figured out why Bart had undone his jacket and kissed him, but he couldn’t help but feel that this was more than good acting. He was also trying his best to ignore the fact that his best friend just kissed him and he had never felt more turned on his life. He didn’t know what to say.

As they got to the last corridor before they reached the main room again, Jaime stopped Bart.

“Uhh… Should we talk about what just happened?” Jaime asked unsurely.

“What?” Bart dismissed, “I had to fool the security guard somehow didn’t I?”

“Yeh. But uhh… that felt like more than acting to me… And Khaji Da agrees…” Jaime stated.

“Guys!” Cassie hissed as her and Tim appeared out of nowhere.

Jaime was pained by their poor timing.

“What?” Bart asked turning to make it clear she had his full attention and that his conversation with Jaime was over.

“Did you find anything?”

“Yes. I’ll tell you back at HQ.”

“Alright. Let’s go.” Tim ordered.

It took Jaime a second to follow the three as they headed towards the exit as he let the after effects of his conversation with Bart wear off. He still wanted answers.

“Bart, what was in the briefcase?” Batman asked as the five of them all stood back at HQ.

“Building layouts/ maps of the Watchtower.” Bart skewed his lips with concern.

Batman’s eyes narrowed, “Anything else?”

Cassie spoke up after Bart shook his head, “Lex is having a meeting a LexCorp tomorrow. We could plan another recon and see if we can find out more from that?”

“Leave it with me.” Batman said before walking off.

“What do you think they want with the watchtower layouts?” Cassie asked.

“They could be planning a surprise attack.” Tim offered.

“I’d love to stay and chat but I have to go.” Bart said quickly before dashing off so quickly Jaime didn’t get a chance to call out after him. He got about as far as lifting up a finger before he realized he was gone.

“Bart! Jaime’s here to see you!” Iris called out from downstairs.

Bart rubbed his hands over his face and groaned.

“Uhh hey…” Jaime said shyly as he walked into Bart’s room, “... we didn’t get a chance to finish talking earlier… you know about… the thing.” Jaime just couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Bart took a deep breath, “I’m known for being impulsive so here goes…”, he took another deep breath, “I like you a lot okay! And I don’t care that you don’t feel the same way! I still want to be best friends! Please don’t let my feelings for you mode our friendship!” Bart looked deep into Jaime’s blank eyes and Jaime looked back to see sadness and remorse in Bart’s eyes.

Jaime didn’t respond. Not with words. Instead, he grabbed the speedster suddenly around the waist and pulled him into another kiss. This time one he would initiate and actually savor unlike the last one. Jaime’s eyes remained open which is why he saw Bart looking back at him with confusion, so Jaime coaxed him out of his shock by placing a hand on Bart’s neck and back to bring him even closer. Once Bart decided to go with it and not question it, he closed his eyes and Jaime was able to do the same.

They eventually separated for air, to which Bart immediately jumped to question as he had wanted to earlier, “Do you like me back?”, he asked incredulously tilting his head like a puppy. He felt stupid asking such a question, he had convinced himself that would never be the case, but it was the only logical conclusion he could come to after Jaime coaxed him into enjoying the kiss as if his analysis was ruining the magic for both of them.

“Yeh… I do.” Jaime smiled nervously. He wanted to tell Bart more, like how excited Bart made him. He had never felt that way before. And he just wanted more of it!

“Crash!” Bart remarked happily. His eyes darted down to Jaime’s lips again, and vice versa. Before they knew it they were making out again this time on top of Bart’s bed. Jaime was a little unsure if moving so fast was a wise decision but Bart was intoxicating and he wasn’t prepared to stop, he didn’t want to stop, and neither did Bart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you've enjoyed everything so far! Let me know if this fic is worth continuing in the comments!


	4. Unaccounted Connections

“Thanks for meeting me on such notice. I have a job for you.” Lex stirred in his office chair.

“What’s the job?” asked the deep voice.

“I need you to steal this for me.” Lex said as he slid over a piece of paper with an image on it.

“Okay? Where will I find this… thing?”

“In the Watchtower.” Lex replied nonchalantly.

“In the Watchtower! I can’t steal this! Not with all the Leaguers up there!” the voice sharper.

“Don’t worry.” Lex soothed, “I have borrowed a Mother-box from Vandal Savage. You’ll be able to boom tube safely and discreetly to the necessary location. Here are the maps to the Watchtower so you know where to find what I need.”

“Why me?” the man inquired.

“You’re the only one strong enough to lift it to bring it back here.” Lex explained.

“Okay. And how much will you pay me?”

Lex slid over another piece of paper with a figure on it. Bane grinned. He picked up the Mother-box and the Watchtower layout papers.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Lex grinned.

Bane wasted no time and asked Motherbox to take him to the coordinates the map had provided. He walked off into the boom tube.

“Nightwing to Watchtower. Bane is boom tubing aboard the Watchtower as we speak to steal something! Find him, and stop him!” Nightwing sterned into his comm as he hung suspended from a cable with some tech pressed to the window allowing him to overhear the conversation.

“On it!” Superboy confirmed.

Superboy ordered every Leaguer on the Watchtower to search for boom tube activity or for Bane but nobody could find him.

Bane returned no less than a minute later carrying a large crate. During which, Nightwing was glad Batman had sent him alone on this recon. It meant there was more hands on deck on the Watchtower. 

“He acquired whatever object he was after. It’s a storage crate. He took something from the storage facility. Check the storage facility’s inventory now!” Nightwing ordered.

“Now I just need you to take it to Professor Ivo. He will be waiting with your payment when you get there.” Lex gestured at the Mother-box.

Bane asked Mother-box to take him to Professor Ivo’s lab, after the portal opened up with the all knowing ping, Bane walked through and it closed. Nightwing hit the side of the building in frustration before retracting his cable to get back on to the roof and get in the bioship.

“Bane took whatever it was to Professor Ivo’s lab. We need to find his laboratory. This is a disaster, heavy on the ‘dis’.” Nightwing groaned. Nightwing frowned while he waited for a response from Conner as he flew back to the Watchtower.

“Dick, we know what Bane took.” Superboy informed over the comm link.

When Conner told him, he immediately pieced together a theory as to what Lex was planning. He was worried about whether Professor Ivo had the knowledge to make it a working theory. If he was correct, this whole plan relied on Professor Ivo’s knowledge.

“Are you coming back to the Watchtower?” Conner asked.

“I need to make a stop first.” Dick said.

Bart was laying on his bed sending texts to Jaime in his room when he heard Barry call out to him. Bart quickly excused himself from his and Jaime’s conversation.

“Nightwing. What are you doing here?” Bart asked a splash of confusion on his face.

“I thought I should inform you.” Nightwing looked at Barry before looking back at Bart, “Lex stole your time machine. The one you built to return here to the past.”

“What? Why would he do that?” Bart asked somehow managing to multitask on asking questions and sorting through a plethora of emotions that flooded through him. He was angry. He hadn’t touched the time machine since it was put in storage all those years ago, but it had sentimental value to him. He built it with Nathan. It was the only reason he now had Jaime. The machine, even though it was no longer of any use, meant a lot to him.

“He has sent it to Professor Ivo. My theory is Lex has paid Ivo to try and fix it. Make it operational again.” Nightwing frowned at the thought of Lex having the ability to time travel. Judging by the frown on Barry’s face, he was thinking the same thing.

“Well, the machine’s circuitry got fried coming here. It was a one way ticket. The circuitry is pretty advanced and it contains future tech, I doubt Ivo will be able to fix it.” Bart scoffed.

“Well… no one can know for sure. It’s not a risk any of us are willing to take. We need to find Ivo’s lab and take the time machine back.” Nightwing explained.

“Has the league got any leads yet?” Bart asked.

“No. Professor Ivo is one of the best people at hiding off the grid we’ve ever encountered. He usually relocates on a daily basis, that way anyone who does business with him only knows his whereabouts for up to 24 hours. It could take weeks to find him!” Nightwing shook his head.

“We could get M’Gann to read his mind?” Bart offered.

“Aside from the ethical dilemma that presents, M’Gann is off world with her uncle at the moment anyway.”

“I can reach out to some of my rogues, I doubt any will know where he is though.” Barry offered.

“Uhh thanks for letting me know Nightwing, I need to go, I need to tell Jaime about this.” Bart stated quickly before running off without waiting for a response.

“Jaime! You will never believe what happened!” Bart shouted frantically as he ran into Jaime’s room.

Jaime could see Bart was visibly shaken. He gave Bart a hug before sitting down to listen to what Bart had to say. He also felt attached to the time machine, and it oddly felt like he had been robbed too.

“I have to go find it now!” Bart insisted.

“Slow down mi amor, I am sure the League is doing everything they can to find him. Until then, we should just wait.” Jaime said apologetically.

“This is just so moded. That machine means a lot to me.” Bart’s eyes went heavy with sadness.

“I know. We’ll get it back carino. I promise.” Jaime hugged him tightly.

Meanwhile, Ivo had already received the crate and opened it after paying Bane.

“Let’s have a look shall we.” Ivo talked to himself as he ripped the cover panel off.

“Fascinating!” he gawked.

He started scribbling notes down madly on the machine’s schematics and it’s issues. He would need to collect a lot of parts to reconstruct the machine. He sighed in annoyance. This was certainly going to be a challenge for him, but fortunately for him, his intellect enjoyed such things. 

“Everything is going to plan Mercy. Now all we have to do is wait.” Lex said pressing the tip of the pen in his hand in and out slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope it was worth the wait!


	5. How Do You Expect The Unexpected

“Darn it!” Ivo yelled slamming his fists down on the table.

It had been a week since he had first received the machine, and he hadn’t been able to get it to turn on let alone work. He had even begrudgingly consulted Ultra Humanite who was also unable to help. Ivo’s non-traceable burner cell rang.

“I know! I know! This isn’t easy work Lex! I’d like to see you fix this thing!” Ivo snapped in annoyance to the yelling he was being subjected to.

“Okay fine, I will meet you for my next delivery at the same spot you gave me the last one.” Ivo agreed.

Ivo grunted as he started packing up his tools to move back to the original location to receive a supposed next delivery from Lex that was supposed to help him with his task.

“Mercy! I need you to get me a phone number.” Lex ordered.

After receiving her instructions, she returned back a handful of minutes later.

“Hello, this is Lex Luthor. I don’t believe we have met before, but I’m calling to offer you a job.” Lex grinned.

Mercy stood there and waited as Lex secured the deal and revealed his plan to his new partner.

“Do you think this plan will work?” Mercy asked after he had finished the phone call.

“Mercy, you’re such a pessimist.” Lex shook his head before standing up and leaving his office.

The next day Luthor’s plan began. He had arranged one of his associates to send out a masked tweet to the Outsiders asking for their help because of a MONQI attack. An ironic revenge plan to get back at the Justice League for having staged one themselves in the past.

The Outsiders responded quickly and were in the middle of taking out the bots.

“I understand why Superboy hates these things!” Bart complained as his ears throbbed from the cacophony of laughter.

“Agreed!” Jaime remarked as he blew up a bunch all in close proximity.

“Ugh! There are more on the way!” Cassie yelled out.

“Where are they coming from?” Garfield asked out of irritation.

“Let’s try and find out!” Tim said as he used his staff to bash some that were attacking him.

Suddenly they all heard it. A scream. A MONQI bot had picked up a little girl and was flying her away really fast.

“Bart! Rescue that girl!” Tim ordered.

“On it!” Bart said as he chased after the rogue bot.

The young girl continued screaming as it flew her further away. It was times like this Bart wished he could fly. It took about a minute to find a building that was positioned close enough that he could run up and jump off of to smash the bot. He grabbed the girl and ran her back down the side of the building and placed her on the ground.

“You’re safe now little girl!” Bart said warmly.

Bart turned to look back in the direction he had come.

“However you are not!”

Bart instantly turned back in horror at the sound of a thick Russian accent and watched as the little girl morphed into a woman. She pulled out a device and immediately pressed the red button on it which sent an electric bubble of energy around Bart before he could react. Bart went to vibrate out of it, but he couldn’t. He had never been able to not vibrate through something before.

“Don’t waste your energy!” the voice mocked.

“Who are you? And what is this?” Bart asked looking understandably irritated.

“I am Madam Rouge. And that, is a level three containment field. You’re not going anywhere.”

“We’ll see about th- ARGHHH!” Bart screamed as she turned a dial that made the bubble electrocute him. Bart exhaled as he collapsed to his knees in agony.

Back where the Outsiders were, all the MONQI bots suddenly retreated.

“That’s weird.” Garfield remarked.

“I’ll tell you what else is weird.” Tim added, “Bart should be back by now?” 

Jaime looked at Garfield with concern, “I’m going to go look for him.”

“Perhaps we all should?” Cassie offered.

“Khaji Da, scan for Bart.” Jaime instructed. Usually Jaime was more polite to Khaji Da when he requested things but he was straight up worried now.

_ “There are no signs of the Bart Allen.” _ Khaji Da responded.

“Beast Boy can you find him? You know, using scent?” Jaime asked.

“I guess.” Garfield said as he morphed into a dog.

He started sniffing near where the robot had been where it picked up the girl.

“Oh no.” Garfield murmured.

“What is it?” Jaime asked his concern growing by the second.

“I know that scent.” Garfield sighed, “Bart was kidnapped. And I know who by too.”

Jaime’s teeth gritted together. He didn’t know who kidnapped his boyfriend but he was going to teach them a lesson. “Who took him?”

“Her name is Madam Rouge. I know her scent because I fought against her back in my Doom Patrol days.” Garfield remembered.

“We need to find Bart now! Khaji Da, scan for Bart’s comm link.” Jaime said as he started flying upwards.

“Blue! Where are you going?” Tim called out after him.

“I need to find Bart!” Jaime yelled back angrily before flying off.

Khaji Da tracked the ear piece and found it discarded in a park. He ignored all the gawking citizens who watched him.

_ “Jaime can you figure out which direction she was heading in?” _ Jaime asked.

_ “There are no known trajectories. She could have gone in any direction.” _

_ “What do you mean! You have to have some idea! Just guess!” _Jaime yelled.

_ “Guessing is illogical.” _

Jaime was about to go ape on Khaji Da when he heard his name.

“What?” Jaime snapped.

“We can help you find Bart. But it is going to take time.” Cassie explained as she landed in front of him adjusting her bracelets.

“We don’t have time! Who knows what they are going to do him!” Jaime yelled.

“Jaime, calm down. We are going to find Bart okay?” Cassie insisted.

“You don’t know that!” Jaime scoffed as he nudged past her intending to keep searching.

“Jaime I understand that you’re upset but that’s no excuse to be a jerk!” Cassie quipped.

Jaime got even madder and started to yell in Spanish before he stopped and took a deep breath, “Look, I’m sorry. I just… Need to find Bart.”

“I know. I understand.” Cassie sympathized.

“No you don’t.” Jaime countered.

“Bart and I… we’re a couple. We’ve been dating in secret. But this stays between us!”

“Wow. I had no idea. I’m sorry.” Cassie apologized feeling deeper pity for Jaime now that she understood the situation fully. She knew she would be just as angry if Tim had been kidnapped.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, “But we will get him back okay?”

“Okay.” Jaime responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you were surprized by the insertion of the villain Madam Rouge, please feel free to comment and let me know if you liked my inclusion of her. I like bringing villains from other DC shows into my fics even though I predominantly imagine them all within the Young Justice universe.


	6. A Possible Induction

“You’re late.” Ivo quipped.

“Sorry. I had difficulty finding the place. Here’s your delivery.” Madam Rouge informed in her heavy Russian accent.

“I wasn’t expecting my next delivery to be a person?” Ivo commented.

“Apparently this boy is the one who built the time machine. Or so Lex tells me. Here. He’s all yours.” she said as she handed over the controller for the containment field.

Ivo watched as she stretched herself out of the vents in the ceiling. He shook his head in bewilderment. You truly did meet the weirdest super-powered villains in his line of work.

“So you’re Ivo. Working with Lex Luthor to fix my time machine, not crash dude, not crash at all!” Bart shunned.

“And now I’m going to be working with you. You’re going to help me fix this piece of junk.” Ivo walked over to the bubble.

“I’m not helping you with anything.” Bart crossed his arms.

“We’ll see…” Ivo said calmly before turning the dial on the remote to shock Bart.

Bart screamed and gripped his head as he collapsed to his knees.

“You call that torturing!” Bart laughed mockingly, “Where I came from, they did much worse!”

Ivo grinned, “I have nowhere else to be so, I guess I can keep trying, you’ll break eventually.”

Ivo kept leaving the shock mechanism on for longer and longer periods of time.

“Had enough?” Ivo asked.

“You know you really should give a tour when you have guests over to your house for the first time!” Bart joked with a grin.

Now Ivo was getting irritated. And he reactivated the shock mechanism.

When the shock stopped, he looked at Bart to see if he was ready to cooperate, “I never did ask if you wanted me to take my shoes off at the d- AGHH!

“Fine, I’ll just kill you instead.” Ivo said planning to leave the shock mechanism on permanently knowing it would kill Bart eventually.

“Okay! Okay! I’ll help.” Bart conceded. He knew they could find someone else with the knowledge to repair it, and he didn’t want to be killed, not when he was finally dating Jaime, which is what he had wanted for so long. In fact, it was the only thing he felt like had ever truly wanted when returning from the past. It felt odd to actually hope for something, to hope to have a relationship with Jaime. Hope wasn’t something that was encouraged back where Bart grew up. But he was dating Jaime now, he couldn’t let himself be killed.

“About time.” Ivo scoffed.

Bart spent the next 24 hours guiding Ivo and telling him what to do. He spent the whole time hoping Jaime would show up and save him.

“Well I think we should get ready to pack up and move to my next location!” Ivo stated cheerily.

“Wait! We are almost done!” Bart said as if he was the stupidest man alive.

“How much longer?” Ivo asked debating staying.

“An hour tops.” Bart said confidently.

“Okay… Fine. But if we’re not done in the next hour, you’re going to discover what death by electrocution feels like.” Ivo grinned.

Bart swallowed. He knew they were actually genuinely close to finishing, but Bart wanted to delay Ivo for as long as he could so that Jaime and the Outsiders had the best chance they had to find him.

After another half hour, Ivo decided to take a break.

“Why are you stopping? We’re almost done?” Bart asked.

“I’m taking a break.” Ivo said nonchalantly.

“But I only have like half an hour left!”

“So…” Ivo questioned.

“So, you said I could have an hour! You’re eating into my hour by slacking on the job!” Bart complained.

“Too bad.”

Bart frowned. “Fine. So what is Lex going to do with this anyway?” Bart asked.

“It doesn’t concern you.” Ivo retorted stretching his fingers.

“Well… if I had to guess. Lex is likely going to travel back in time, that’s what most people want a time machine for. He is going to change something. Now an honorable person like me, would use it to save a life, someone like Luthor, he would be using it for dishonorable reasons. He would be using it to destroy a life. But who does Luthor hate?” Bart mused for a second, “Superman.” Bart gasped as he had the epiphany, “He’s going back in time to stop Superman from becoming Superman.”

“Very good! You’re almost clever enough to be a member of the Bat family.” Ivo mocked.

“So how’s he going to do it? Kill him as a defenseless baby? Take him away from the Kents and raise him evil.” Bart waved his hands dramatically.

“Those are both excellent ideas, I’ll be sure to pass them on.” Ivo grinned.

“Can we get back to the machine now. My life is kind of on the line here.” Bart whined. Bart knew full well Ivo was likely going to kill him anyway when they were done.

“Very well.” Ivo granted only because his respect had actually grown for his hostage from figuring out Luthor’s plan. If there is one thing Ivo appreciates, it’s intellect.

It took another 10 minutes until they were done. Ivo pressed the buttons in the sequence Bart had told him to which caused the machine to whir to life.

“Okay. Let’s test it shall we!” Ivo exclaimed feeling confident having overseen every step in the fixing process.

“Now, I’m not going to get in there in case you made a mistake. I can’t trust you to go in there because you might be able to take control of it. So I’ll send one of my MONQI bots.” Ivo explained.

Ivo placed the MONQI inside the capsule and programmed it to activate the capsule from the inside.

“Okay, so the machine should go to the year 1938, and come back in one minute.” Ivo recorded on his piece of paper some last minute notes before he commanded his MONQI bot to begin.

The machine disappeared in a white flash causing them to both look away.

“Let the count down begin!” Ivo exclaimed excitedly as he watched his watch.

Bart remained silent for the entire minute. And the minute after that. And the minute after that.

“Where is it? I don’t understand! It should have returned!” Ivo shouted angrily.

“I may have tricked you into programming it incorrectly so that it doesn’t return ever again.” Bart grinned.

Ivo spun around angrily. “You’ve made a big mistake!”

“It would appear that I might be clever enough to be a member of the Bat family after all!” Bart teased.

Ivo grumbled angrily. “Well… It was not nice knowing you.” And with that he swiftly turned the dial on again.

“I wish I could stick around to see how long it takes for you to die, but I need to relocate.”

Ivo started leisurely packing up his items and ignored Bart as he writhed in agony on the floor screaming.

Ivo let out a scream of his own when he suddenly felt a fist punch him across the face. Cassie wiped the blood off her fist.

“Bart!” Jaime yelled running over to Bart’s side.

“How do I turn this thing off!” Jaime yelled ignoring the tears springing to his eyes as he watched Bart in a constant state of pain. Bart couldn’t open his mouth long enough to speak. His teeth needed to remain gritted to cope with the pain.

Khaji Da informed Jaime about the remote on the table. He immediately turned the dial to ‘off’ and felt relief encapsulate him as the bubble around Bart disintegrated. Bart groaned as he adjusted back to no pain.

Again running over to his side, “Bart are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Now that you’re here.” Bart managing to stand thanks to his speed healing.

Bart through his arms over Jaime and kissed him. Jaime had wanted to but didn’t want to risk hurting Bart.

“What the f-” Garfield began to say.

“It’s okay! They’re dating!” Tim reassured.

“Oh. Noted.” Garfield said looking surprised.

“Wait? How did you know?” Cassie asked.

“I figured it out.” Tim grinned.

“Wait so I am officially the only single member left on the team! Jaime how could you do this to me!” Static whined.

“Sorry hermano.” Jaime chuckled, “I mean look at him, who could resist him?” Jaime grinned at Bart.

“Aww! Thanks babe!” Bart said pecking Jaime’s cheek.

“By the way, you should destroy all of Ivo’s notes. He might try to reconstruct one from scratch. But I doubt he will ever get his hands on the parts he needs. Plus he is still missing crucial parts of the programming which I didn’t tell him about.” Bart grinned.

Tim took Bart’s suggestion and grabbed the notes in order to incinerate them as soon as they got back to the Watchtower, which he did. Cassie escorted a limp Ivo outside into police custody.

“Can Jaime and I leave? I haven’t eaten in so long. I need to eat an entire buffet right now.” Bart directed his question at Tim.

“Sure.”

“Crash!” Bart exclaimed.

Bart offered to run but Jaime refused to let him and carried him instead. They flew back to Jaime’s house.

“You can have all the food we’ve got. I’ll got buy some more later.” Jaime smiled.

“Thanks Blue! You’re the best!” Bart exclaimed. He had emptied their kitchen entirely in a matter of seconds.

“That’s so much better! I missed food so much! But not as much as I missed you.” Bart winked, “Thanks for saving me by the way.”

“I guess that makes us even.” Jaime grinned.

_ “Technically the Bart Allen has saved us 11 more times than we have saved him.”  _ Khaji Da educated.

Jaime sighed. “Apparently, you’ve saved me more times. Khaji has been keeping count.” Jaime looked at Bart.

Bart chuckled, “I guess you will have to make up to me then huh?” 

Jaime shook his head knowing what he meant, “You’re such a tease!”, but Jaime obliged nonetheless when Bart jumped on him koala style and carried him up to his room trying not to trip up the stairs as Bart made out with him blocking his view of the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I leave the fic here or continue? Lemme know in the comments!

**Author's Note:**

> I know I am a broken record, but I love comments, so please leave one, even if it's short! I like feedback! Tell me if my fic was good or bad! Preferably good haha!


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